Geeta Iyengar

Geeta Iyengar, eldest daughter of the founder of the worldwide Iyengar yoga method, Yogacharya B. K. S. Iyengar, was described as "the world's leading female yoga teacher".{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jun-08-cl-8045-story.html |title=Mastering the Meeting of Mind and Body |work=Los Angeles Times |first=Donna |last=Mungen |date=8 June 2001}}

Iyengar studied yoga with her father from an early age. After graduating high school in 1961, she began substituting for her father when he was away on international teaching tours. When he retired in 1984,{{cite news|url=http://www.beliefnet.com/Health/2004/11/Iyengar-Yoga-Food-For-The-Spirit.aspx?p=1 |title=Iyengar Yoga: 'Food for the Spirit'| work=Beliefnet | first=Mark Bruce |last=Rosin |date=2004}} she became co-director, with her brother Prashant S. Iyengar, of the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI){{cite web |title=Short Biography |url=http://www.bksiyengar.com/modules/guruji/geeta.htm |access-date=6 May 2013}} as well as undertaking her own international teaching tours.

{{further|Yoga for women}}

Iyengar adapted her father's method of yoga to the specific requirements of women.{{cite news|url=http://www.yoga-international.org/article/In+Loving+Gratitude/1213713/131242/article.html|title=In Loving Gratitude|work=Yoga International|first=Anna|last=Dubrovsky|date=Winter 2012|access-date=2013-05-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222082555/http://www.yoga-international.org/article/In+Loving+Gratitude/1213713/131242/article.html|archive-date=2015-12-22|url-status=dead}} Specific asanas, pranayama and sequences are given for different stages in a woman's life including menstruation, pregnancy, postpartum, and menopause. Like her father, Iyengar explained how yoga is used as a method to unify body and mind, and strengthen the respiratory system, circulatory system, nervous system, muscles, epidermis, and the mind.Iyengar, 2002.

In addition to teaching at RIMYI, Iyengar periodically toured worldwide to carry on the Iyengar Yoga lineage. She was a well-known figure in yoga around the world, in North America,{{cite news |url=http://www.ascentmagazine.com/articles.aspx?articleID=293&issueID=39 |title=We Are All Karma Yogis |work=Ascent magazine |first=Geeta |last=Iyengar |date=2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111107130817/http://www.ascentmagazine.com/articles.aspx?articleID=293&issueID=39 |archive-date=2011-11-07 }}{{cite news |url=http://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/576?print=1 |title=In Her Father's Light |work=Yoga Journal |first=Colleen |last=Morton |date=September–October 2001}}{{cite news |url=http://www.yogachicago.com/jul01/gita.shtml|title=An Odyssey with Geeta Iyengar |work= Yoga Chicago |first=Patrina |last=Dobish |date= July–August 2001}} Australia,{{cite news|url=http://www.ayl.com.au/pdf_docs/Geeta_Iyengar_25.pdf |title=Geeta Iyengar in Australia |work=Australia Yoga Life |first=Michael |last=Hollingworth |date=February 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222082948/http://www.ayl.com.au/pdf_docs/Geeta_Iyengar_25.pdf |archive-date=2015-12-22 }} South Africa,{{cite news |url=http://yoganewsletters.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/srimati-geeta-s-iyengar%E2%80%99s-second-visit-to-south-africa |title=Srimati Geeta S Iyengar’s second visit to South Africa |work=Yoga Awakening Africa |first=Gillian |last=Bacon |date= August 2011}} and Europe.{{cite web|url=https://www.iyengaryoga.org.uk/mi-client/media/documents/practice_of_women.pdf |title=The Practice of Women During the Whole Month |publisher=First published in Poland 2002 |website=Iyengar Yoga.org.uk |date=2009 |author=Iyengar, Geeta |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150416155034/https://www.iyengaryoga.org.uk/mi-client/media/documents/practice_of_women.pdf |archive-date=2015-04-16 }}

She trained yoga teachers around the world, for example in Italy.{{cite web | url=http://www.istitutoiyengaryogafirenze.it/insegnanti/?lang=eng | title=Teachers | publisher=Instituto Iyengar Yoga Firenze.it | date=2013 | access-date=8 May 2013}} She died on 16 December 2018, two days after her father's birth centenary, aged 74. She was unwell and used a wheelchair for more than a year. She had said that she would not depart this earth until she had completed her father's 100th birth anniversary celebration.{{cite web | url=https://yogdand.com/2019/02/13/gitajis-icchamrityu/?lang=eng | title=Geetaji's Icchamrityu | publisher=yogdand.com | date=2019 | access-date=13 Feb 2019}}

• Iyengar, Geeta. Yoga: A Gem for Women, 2002. {{ISBN|978-0-931454-98-1}}
• Iyengar, Geeta. Yoga in Action – Preliminary Course, 2000. {{ISBN|978-81-87603-01-6}}
• Iyengar, Geeta. Yoga in Action - Intermediate Course-I, 2013. {{ISBN|978-81-87603-22-1}}
• Clennell, Bobby; Iyengar, Geeta. The Women's Yoga Book: Asana and Pranayama for All Phases of the Menstrual Cycle, 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-930485-18-1}}
• Iyengar, Geeta. Iyengar Yoga for Motherhood: Safe Practice for Expectant & New Mothers, 2010. {{ISBN|978-1-402726-89-7}}

{{reflist|26em}}

{{Yoga as exercise}}

{{Modern Yoginis}}

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Category:1944 births

Category:2018 deaths

Category:Modern Indian yoga gurus